For the past 27 years, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard has ruled over California’s 40th District in a seat that was held by her father, Rep. Edward Roybal, for 30 years before her. But while the father-daughter combo has enjoyed the perks of power for 60 years, it’s Roybal-Allard’s son Ricardo Olivarez who might be the biggest beneficiary of the family’s hold on power.

Olivarez heads the law firm of Olivarez Madruga LLP, through which he currently serves as the city attorney for Cudahy (which is inside his mother’s district), as well as San Fernando and El Monte. His billing for work in El Monte during the last calendar year, 2019, included a monthly retainer of nearly $60,000 a month, totaling more than a whopping $705,000 for the year.

According to a 2014 article in the Whittier Daily News the industry average for public attorneys is to charge client cities and organizations $10,000 to $20,000 per month. Thus, his billing of El Monte is staggeringly… Read More

Employment? Democrat states don’t NEED no stinkin’ employment!

You can verify this gonzo assertion by looking at the latest (June, 2020) BLS unemployment figures by state. The top (worst) ELEVEN employment states are all Democrat run. California is “only” the fifth worst state: 50th — Massachusetts — the worst 49th — New Jersey — surprised? 48th — New York — stunning, right? 47th — Nevada — now that both state houses AND gov are Democrat 46th — The Golden State — La La Land

Conversely, 11 of the 12 BEST states (lowest unemployment rates) are GOP controlled — only Maine is the exception. https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm… Read More

A wide discussion started well in advance of election day (November 3rd ) that President Trump will not accept the results of the election and vacate the White House if defeated. The question is: Who will be the people not accepting the results?

I have written previously on this subject regarding the 2016 election. I wrote of wackos in the Republican party (yes; there are some — although the majority are nestled on the LEFT) speculating before and after the 2016 election that Mr. Obama would not leave on January 20, 2017. At the time, I expressed to their faces and in writing that this was a ridiculously stupid theory and that they should never repeat it again to a live person.

The difference currently is that the theories coming from the Democrats are not coming just from the deranged Left. On June 11th, Vice-President Joe Biden stated his “single greatest concern” is President Trump “will try to steal the election.” That he is absolutely “convinced” the military will need to escort Trump from the White House if he loses the election but refuses to leave office. Notice he does not state that Trump would not leave office; he just purports… Read More

At an Executive Committee meeting on Monday evening Tony Krvaric announced a leadership team to take over when his current term ends in January, 2021.

Krvaric was first elected in 2007, taking over after Ron Nehring who was elected California Republican Party chairman. He was subsequently re-elected six times and will have served nearly 14 years as chairman.

The new leadership team will consist of Paula Whitsell as Chairman, Dustin Trotter as 1st Vice Chair, Brad Gerbel as 2nd Vice Chair, Elizabeth Spillane as Treasurer, and Andrew Skale as Secretary.

Paula is a small business owner in the South Bay. She lived and worked in Brazil for 17 years before returning to the San Diego area in 1989 with her family. She has been active with the Chula Vista Bonita Republican Women as well as the San Diego County Republican Women since 2009.

Paula currently serves as Second Vice Chair and was recently re-elected to the 80th Assembly District Caucus for the upcoming term. Having seen the effects of socialism in action while in Brazil, she is a passionate voice for Republican values.

The leadership team will stand for election in January of 2021, all… Read More

8/3/20 UPDATE: BARTLETT IS LOOKING FOR A BACK ROOM DEAL

Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett knows beyond a doubt that she must stay in office beyond eight years. It must be some sort of divine calling. As those who have been following this issue the last few weeks — early in July Supervisor Bartlett brought forward a proposal to the Board of Supervisors to place on the ballot a cynical measure that would allow her to serve extra time in office if it passed. Billed as closing a “loophole” that allows termed out supervisors to leave, and then come back (said loophole has been used once in the history of term limits in OC) by allowing every supervisor to serve twelve instead of eight years in office. Perhaps, most significantly, Bartlett had made a commitment to me personally (so presumably to others) that if she was to bring forward a proposal it would be vetted, and brought around to different groups in the county for their input. In fact she said that ideally signatures would be gathered demonstrating it was “from the people” not from the Board.

Um, those commitments and sentiments turned out to be untrue, as she threw this… Read More

Small government conservatives and libertarian-leaning constitutionalists comforted ourselves with the Trump Administration by rationalizing that we will get a good Supreme Court. Cleaning the swamp would be nice. But at least we will get a better Supreme Court than from a President Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden, a Supreme Court that enforces the laws as written, leaves to the elected representatives the right to make the laws democratically, and fairly enforces those laws once written.

So much for that idea.

The need for respect for the written laws — and for the people’s’ representatives who write them — has been manifest over the last few decades. Too often, the federal courts have ignored the law as written by the people’s’ representatives, or by the people themselves through direct democracy.

This abject failure of the judiciary to follow the law is dressed in appealing language as the “Living Constitution” theory. According to the theory’s most outspoken champion, late Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, the words written into the statutory law — or enshrined in the Constitution — must change their meaning depending upon the… Read More

President Trump has been called an authoritarian a lot lately. He has also been called a fascist, dictator, totalitarian and autocrat. I do not think I have seen him called imperious or a despot perhaps because the name callers are unfamiliar with a thesaurus. Whether he is any of these is the question to analyze.

We can look at many cases in history, but we have two prime examples during recent times that define what these people call him. And when I say “these people” it goes all the way up to the Speaker of the House. The two cases are Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro. These are prime examples of authoritarians.

The rule of these people has been relatively short — Chavez took over in February of 1999 and Erdogan became Prime Minister in March 2003. Though they came to office through open elections, during these respective periods of time they have coalesced power in their own hands through lessening the powers of the citizens and suppressing their freedoms, particularly the freedom of the press and simultaneously freedom of speech. Both countries are no longer free democracies.… Read More

Periodically we Californians hear friends and allies complaining that investors and “foreign speculators” are driving up the price of California homes. But consider this question:Why aren’t all these supposedly-evil investors buying in Houston? Or in most other areas of the country?

Houston has much stronger demand for houses than CA. In the last decade, in several years the CITY of Houston issued more home building permits than the entire STATE of California. Yet the Houston houses sell for far less than CA, and the prices rise much slower. Oddly enough, the median price of a home in 27 states is lower than the low Texas home prices!

Here’s my answer to the above question (speaking as a long time real estate investor and stockbroker):Never invest your R.E. money in a free market, where competitors (in this case, builders) find it easy to construct new homes and apartments. In the 70’s I foolishly bought interest in some Houston properties. The demand for homes boomed, but so did the supply of houses and apartments. I SHOULD have invested in CA properties where the state and local governments self-righteously collude… Read More